Safe-to-pass indicator having portions of indicia flashingly illuminated

ABSTRACT

A safety device for indicating from a lead vehicle to following drivers when it is safe to pass. The control means for the device is spring loaded to the off position for safety reasons and all of the wording on the safe-to-pass indicator are clearly visible when the sign is both off and on. A transistorized multi-vibrator is used to activate flashing light indicators.

nited States Patent 51 3,683,330

Lancaster Aug. 8, 1972 541 SAFE-TO-PASS INDICATOR HAVING UNITED STATESPATENTS PORTIONS OF INDICIA FLASHINGLY ILLUMINATED Inventor: Arthur W;Lancaster, Raleigh, NC.

Hi-Way Safti Signal Manufacturing Corporation, Raleigh, N.C.

Filed: Dec. 14, 1970 Appl. No.: 97,815

Assignee:

US. Cl. ..340/107, 340/74, 340/106 Int. Cl. ..B60q 1/00 Field of Search..340/107, 74, 106

References Cited Baker ..340/107 X Slater ..340/107 X PrimaryExaminerHarold l. Pitts Att0rney-John G. Mills, ill

[57] ABSTRACT A safety device for indicating from a lead vehicle tofollowing drivers when it is safe to pass. The control means for thedevice is spring loaded to the off position for safety reasons and allof the wording on the safe-to-pass indicator are clearly visible whenthe sign is both off and on. A transistorized multi-vibrator is used toactivate flashing light indicators.

10 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PATENIEDAHG 81972 3.683. 330 snmlnraARTHI'JR w. LANCASTE R INVENTOR ATTORNEY PATENTEDAUS 8 I972 SHEET 2 0F 4ARTHUR W. LANCASTER BY INVENTOR g 2% ATTORNEY PATENTEDAUB 8 I972 SHEET 3BF 4 FIG.5

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ARTHUR W. LANCASTER INVENTOR ATTORNEY SAFE-TO-PASS INDICATOR HAVINGPORTIONS F INDICIA FLASHINGLY ILLUMINATED This invention relates tosafety devices and more particularly to safety indicators used on leadvehicles to notify following drivers exists.

Over the years, truck drivers, as well as the drivers of other large andgenerally slow vehicles, have attempted to signal following drivers topass by the use of forward motioning hand signals. This has generallyproved completely inadequate, however, since the following vehicle mustmove out from behind the lead vehicle a sufficient distance for thedrive to see the hand signal. This is even more difficult to safelyaccomplish when curving or winding roads are being traveled.

In recent years, various attempts have been made to produce a safe andyet efficient means to indicate to drivers following a vehicle,particularly large slow vehicles, when it is safe to pass. Thesecontrivances have included flashing arrows, words that light up, andsimilar systems. These systems, however, have been inherently dangerousin that the driver of the lead vehicle may forget to turn the device offthus falsely indicating a safe condition. Likewise, the drivers of thefollowing vehicles have generally not been aware that the lead vehiclewas equipped with a safe passing indicator and thus available time isused up when the driver must digest what the sign says and make hisdecision whether to attempt to pass or not. As quite often happens, bythe when a safe passing condition time this process has been completed,it is again unsafe to attempt such a maneuver.

The present invention has been developed after much research and studyinto the above mentioned problems and is designed to provide a remotedlyactivated, electronically operated, safe-to-pass indicator that allowsthe driver of the following vehicle to be aware that the lead vehicle isso equipped and thus be prepared to proceed when a passing conditionsignal is given. The present invention also prevents the followingdriver from becoming confused as to the function or manner of operationof the safe-to-pass indicator. Because of build-in safety features, anerroneous safety condition indication cannot be given. This isaccomplished by providing an off biased safe-to-pass control switchcoupled with a quick disconnect power line fused and a system operationcondition indicator. The safe-to-pass sign itself is uniquely designedso that its complete message is at all times visible to the followingmotorist and yet, because of such wording, it is obvious when it is safeand when it is not safe to execute a passing attempt.

It is an object, therefore, of the present invention to provide a safetydevice to aid following vehicles in passing lead vehicles.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehiclesafe-to-pass indicator wherein all of the wording thereof is at alltimes clearly legible to following vehicles.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a safe-to-passindicator which is so worded that the driver of following vehicles arenot proned to confusion relative to the meaning thereof.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a dual safetysystem for a vehicle safe-to-pass indicator.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an off biasedcontrol switch for a vehicle safe-to-pass indicator system coupled witha twist disconnect power line fuse holder.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a flashing topass indicator signal for following vehicles.

An additional object of the present invention is to provide atransistorized multi-vibrator controlled flashing signal for indicatinga safe passing condition to a following vehicle.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a control meansfor a safe-to-pass indicator which is operated from either a floorboardmounted switch, an instrument panel mounted switch, or a steering columnmounted switch.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a condition statusindicator for the operator of a vehicle safe-to-pass signaling system.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent and obvious from a study of the following description and theaccompanying drawings which are merely illustrative of such invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a cutaway perspective view of a typical motor vehicleoperators station showing three possible locations of the controlportion of the safe-to-pass indicator of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary rear perspective view of a vehicle showing thesign portion of the safe-to-pass indicator of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a safe-to-pass indicator equipped leadvehicle and its relationship to a following vehicle;

FIG. 4 is a front perspective view of the dash mounted control console;

FIG. 5 is a front elevational view of the steering post mounted controlmeans;

FIG. 6 is a section taken through lines 6-6 of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is a schematic of electrical system of the present invention.

With further reference to the drawings, the safe-topass indicator of thepresent invention includes a signal portion indicated generally at 10and control means mounted conveniently at the operators stationindicated generally at 11. The system of the present invention can beused either with a towing vehicle 12 operatively connected to a towedvehicle 13 or can be used with any other vehicle, particularly ones thatmay be driven slowly and are bulky in size such as trucks (not shown)and the like. Whether articulated or not, the signal equipped vehiclewill hereinafter be referred to as lead vehicle 50 and the signaled tovehicle as the following vehicle 15.

Although it could take any one of several forms, the pass sign 10 hasbeen found effective when constructed from a basic mounting board 16with the words ITS SAFE T printed on the upper portion thereof and thewords WHEN FLASHING on the lower portion. In the center of the sign isthe word PASS clearly printed on a translucent housing 17. Within thishousing is disposed at least one lamp and means for causing the sameflash on and off such as that disclosed schematically at 49 in FIG. 7.

The sign can either be permanently or removably secured to the rear 14of its associated lead vehicle 50. Permanent mounting, of course, can bein any conventional form such as screws, bolts or even an adhesive orwelding. If the sign is to be removably attached, this, of course, canbe accomplished by providing special brackets, removable hinge means, oreven magnetic type holders.

The control unit indicated generally at 18 can take several forms. Ifthe unit is dash mounted, it would preferably have a housing 19 andwould include a spring loaded, off biased, switch 20 of standardconstruction, a pilot light 21 to indicate the operating status of thesystem, and a standard twist-to-disconnect power line fuse.

Since the fuse and pilot light should be conveniently mounted, theywould preferably always be located in the area of the dash. The controlswitch, however, can be located in other positions and on occasionpreferably would be. One possible alternative is to mount the same onthe floorboard in a similar manner to, and adjacent the headlight dimmerswitch 23. This floor mounted switch 24 would be of push button typeconstruction and biased to the off position as switch 20 was indicatedas being. A housing indicated at 24 could, of course, be provided toprotect the working portion of the switch.

Another location for the off-on switch of the present invention is onthe steering column 25 of vehicle 12. This steering column switchindicated at 25 would be mounted within a housing 26 and be secured tothe column by means such as clamp 28.

As to the structural details of a steering column type switch, thecontrol lever 29 shown in FIG. 6 is pivoted about screw retained 30.This lever is biased by spring 31 away from the standardly constructedmicroswitch 32. A presser arm 33 is fixedly secured to the control leverand is adapted to operatively engage the microswitch when the lever ismoved against the biased of spring 31. Thus it can be seen that thecircuit through the microswitch will only be completed while positive onpressure is applied to control lever 29.

With specific reference to the electronic circuitry disclosedschematically in FIG. 7, the vehicle battery 34 is preferably used as apower source. This source can be either 6, 12 or 24 volts although thevalues of the components are given for a 12 volt system which is, ofcourse, the most widely used voltage for motor vehicles.

Also since most vehicles use a negative ground, this has been shownalthough it is understood that with obvious modifications, a positiveground system could be made to work equally as well.

Line 35 from the positive side of the battery 34 passes into theinterior of control housing 19 and is connected to one side of the twistdisconnect fuse 36. The other side of the fuse is connected by line 37to one side of off-biased switch 20. The other side of switch 20 isconnected to one end of line 38 which extends out of housing 19 and tothe rear 14 of lead vehicle 50, whether a combination unit or a singleunit. This line then passes into the translucent housing 17 and isoperatively connected to the flashing system 49 as will hereinafter bedescribed in detail.

Within the control unit 18 is pilot light 21 connected on one side byline 39 to line 38 on the other side by line 40 to ground 41.

If either the steering column switch or the floorboard switch is used, aplug type connection indicated at 42 would be used. The two lines 43 and44 would thus extend, one from line 35 and one from line 38 so thatswitch 20 can be by-passed. Lines 43 and 44 lead one to each side ofeither floor mounted switch 23 or steering column mounting switch 26 orto both, in parallel if both are used. Thus it can be seen that either adash mounted switch 20, a steering column mounted switch 26 or afloorboard mounted switch 23 or a combination of all or part of theseswitches can be used to activate the flasher unit 49 connected to line38.

The flasher portion of the indicator system of the present inventionincludes a pair of lights or lamps 45 and 46 and a multivibrator systemto flashingly operate the same. The flasher unit itself is acollector-coupled transistor multivibrator in the form of a two stageresistance-capacitance coupled emitter amplifier with the output of thefirst stage coupled to the input of the second stage and the output ofthe second stage coupled to the input of the first stage. Thisregenerative feed back with amplification is, of course, required foroscillation. Bias and stabilization are established identically for bothtransistors 47 and 48.

The transistors referred to above are the TO-36 or the T036 type,according to the power requirement of the lamps used. The rate of flashof these lamps is controlled by R1, C1 and R2, C2 combinations at 60flashes per lamp per minute or at the rate of one flash per second.

Because of variations in the tolerances of the components, onetransistor will conduct before the other. Assuming transistor 47 isconducting more heavily than transistor 48, more current will flow inthe base circuit of transistor 47 than the base circuit of thetransistor 48. Collector current in transistors 47 will thus increaserapidly, causing collector voltage at the junction of lamp 45 andresistor-capacitor R1, C1 to decrease or become more positive. Thisincreasing positive voltage is applied through C1 to the base oftransistor 48 thus at the same time turning on lamp 46.

As the base voltage of transistor 48 become more positive, the forwardbias decreases, resulting in a rapid decrease in the base current andthus the collector cur rent in transistor 48. Collector voltage at thejunction of lamp 46 and resistor-capacitor R2, C2 becomes more negative.This negatively increasing voltage is fed back through capacitor C2 tothe base of transistor 47 thus increasing the forward bias.

From the above, it is obvious that as long as the operator of the signalequipped vehicle holds the spring loaded control switch in the onposition so that battery current can flow to the above described flashermeans, the lamps 45 and 46 will emit flashing signals.

As heretobefore indicated, ground potential is the same for both thenegative side of the battery, the ground side of pilot light 21, and theground side of the flasher unit 49.

To install the safe-to'pass indicator of the present invention on avehicle or combination articulated vehicle, all that is required is forthe pilot light-fuse circuitry contained within housing 19 to be mountedon the dash of such vehicle convenient to the operators station 11. Ifcontrol switch 20 is to be used then no other installation in this areais required. If it is desired, however, to use either the steeringcolumn switch 26 or the foot operated switch 23 or both, lines 43 and 44must be plugged into connection 42 contained within housing 19 and runto the respective location of such switches which can then be installedin the accepted manner. Line 35 running from housing 19 is attached toany convenient power connection that extends to battery 34 of thevehicle. The circuitry within the housing 19 would also be grounded atsome convenient location on the vehicle body.

Line 38 is thenrun from housing 19 to the safe-topass sign l0conveniently mounted on the rear 14 of vehicle 50. If the indicatorsystem is used with an articulated vehicle, electrical connection canreadily be made through the standard power plug connection that controlssignal lights, running lights, brake lights and the like on vehicle 14.Line 38 is finally connected to the flasher unit 49 contained withintranslucent housing 17 and this circuitry properly grounded.

As the safe-to-pass indicator equipped vehicle indicated at 50, whichcan be either articulated or nonarticulated, is driven on the highway,the driver or operator thereof can activate either dash switch 20,steering column switch 26, or floor switch 23 (as equipped and desired)to send electrical current to the flasher unit 49. This unit causeslamps 45 and 46 to flash thus periodically eliminating the translucenthousing 17 which has printed thereon the word PASS. Since the indicia onthe sign states WI-TEN FLASH- ING PASS WITH CARE, the periodicillumination or flashing of the PASS signals the driver of the followingvehicle 17 that the driver of the lead vehicle 50 considers it safe toattempt a passing maneuver. The wording on the safe-to-pass sign 10,however, is so designed that it does not indicate an absolute safe topass condition but only indicates that it is safe to attempt to passwhile using caution. The reason for this carefully worded indicia is, ofcourse, due to the fact that it can appear that a safe passing conditionexists but this can rapidly change if an oncoming vehicle is travelingat an excessive rate of speed, pulls out from a side road, or for anynumber of other causes.

As soon as the operator of the lead vehicle notes that it is no longersafe for the driver of the following vehicle to attempt to pass, hereleases pressure on the closed control switch which automatically allowsuch switch to open thus cutting off current to the safe-topass sign 10which in turn stops the flashing of the word PASS written on thetranslucent housing 19.

From the above, it is obvious that the present invention has theadvantage of providing a simple yet efficient means of indicating to thedriver of a following vehicle when the road in front of the lead vehicleappears to be clear for safe passing. The present invention is alsodesigned to prevent possible driver confusion as to the meaning of theindication being given. The present invention additionally has theadvantage of being relatively simple in design which makes it easy toinstall and service and yet inexpensive to initially purchase. Becauseof its design and function, the indicator system of the presentinvention has a wide and i 'sfiii ni fiil ii rig of course, be carriedout in other specific ways than those herein set forth without departingfrom the spirit and essential characteristics of the invention. Thepresent embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects asillustrative and not restrictive and all changes coming within themeaning and equivalency range of the appended claims are intended to beembraced therein.

What is claimed is:

l. A safe-to-pass type indicator comprising: a vehicle having a forwardportion, a rear portion, and an operators station; a sign means mountedon the rear portion of said rear portion of said vehicle; messageconveying indicia to the effect that it is safe to pass said vehiclewhen said indicia is flashingly illuminated printed on said said signwith all portions of said indicia being at all times clearly visible;means for flashingly illuminating at least a portion of said indicia;means operatively mounted adjacent said operators station forcontrolling said flashing means and a system operating conditionindicating means operatively connected to said controlling means wherebyindicator operational malfunctions may be readily determined.

2. The indicator of claim 1 wherein the control means is biased to anormally ofi position.

3. The indicator of claim 1 wherein at least a portion of the indicia isprinted on a translucent housing within which is contained said flashingilluminator means.

4. The indicator of claim 1 wherein said flashing means is a batteryintergized, collector-coupled transistor multivibrator operativelyconnected to lamp type illuminating means.

5. The indicator of claim 1 wherein said condition indicating means is apilot light.

6. The indicator of claim 1 wherein a secondary disconnect means isprovided whereby said flashing illuminator may be rendered inoperationin case of malfunction.

7. The indicator of claim 6 wherein the disconnect means is a quickdisconnect type fuse.

8. A safe-to-pass type indicator comprising: a vehicle having a rearportion and an operators station; a sign means mounted on the rearportion of said vehicle; a message conveying indicia printed on saidsign with all portions of said indicia being at all times visible, saidindicia conveying a message to the efiect that it is safe to pass saidvehicle when such indicia is flashingly illuminated; a batteryintergized, collector-coupled transistor multivibrator operativelyconnected to a lamp means for flashingly illuminating at least a portionof said indicia; and switch means biased to a normally off positionoperatively mounted adjacent said operators station for controlling saidflashing illuminating means.

9. The indicator of claim 8 wherein at least a portion of said indiciais printed on a translucent housing within which is contained theflashing illuminating means.

10. The indicator of claim 8 including a pilot light type operatingcondition indicating means operatively connected to said controllingmeans and a quick disconnect type fuse operatively connected to saidcontrolling means to render said flashing illuminator inoperative incase of malfunction.

1. A safe-to-pass type indicator comprising: a vehicle having a forwardportion, a rear portion, and an operator''s station; a sign meansmounted on the rear portion of said rear portion of said vehicle;message conveying indicia to the effect that it is safe to pass saidvehicle when said indicia is flashingly illuminated printed on said saidsign with all portions of said indicia being at all times clearlyvisible; means for flashingly illuminating at least a portion of saidindicia; means operatively mounted adjacent said operator''s station forcontrolling said flashing means and a system operating conditionindicating means operatively connected to said controlling means wherebyindicator operational malfunctions may be readily determined.
 2. Theindicator of claim 1 wherein the control means is biased to a normally''''off'''' position.
 3. The indicator of claim 1 wherein at least aportion of the indicia is printed on a translucent housing within whichis contained said flashing illuminator means.
 4. The indicator of claim1 wherein said flashing means is a battery intergized, collector-coupledtransistor multivibrator operatively connected to lamp type illuminatingmeans.
 5. The indicator of claim 1 wherein said condition indicatingmeans is a pilot light.
 6. The indicator of claim 1 wherein a secondarydisconnect means is provided whereby said flashing illuminator may berendered inoperation in case of malfunction.
 7. The indicator of claim 6wherein the disconnect means is a quick disconnect type fuse.
 8. Asafe-to-pass type indicator comprising: a vehicle having a rear portionand an operator''s station; a sign means mounted on the rear portion ofsaid vehicle; a message conveying indicia printed on said sign with allportions of said indicia being at all times visible, said indiciaconveying a message to the effect that it is safe to pass said vehiclewhen such indicia is flashingly illuminated; a battery intergized,collector-coupled transistor multivibrator operatively connected to alamp means for flashingly illuminating at least a portion of saidindicia; and switch means biased to a normally ''''off'''' positionoperatively mounted adjacent said operator''s station for controllingsaid flashing illuminating means.
 9. The indicator of claim 8 wherein atleast a portion of said indicia is printed on a translucent housingwithin which is contained the flashing illuminating means.
 10. Theindicator of claim 8 including a pilot light type operating conditionindicating means operatively connected to said controlling means and aquick disconnect type fuse operatively connected to said controllingmeans to render said flashing illuminator inoperative in case ofmalfunction.